Horsepower

ARTICLES ABOUT HORSEPOWER BY DATE - PAGE 4

They travel in packs. The sound of their engines arrives before they and their machines pull up to the curb. Their motto: "Swarm and destroy." And when they ride down a street, people turn and point. And smile. They are the Moped Army. Mopeds, those motorized vehicles that buzzed across America's landscape in the 1970s, are back with a vengeance. Or for what passes as vengeance when you're perched above a 2-horsepower engine that'll get you zipping along at 25 or 30 miles per hour--35 if you're going downhill.

The Volvo YCC concept was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show. Designed by more than 400 women, it's roomy and built for easy maintenance and handling. It has a gas-electric hybrid engine that develops 215 horsepower.

If you climbed into the driver's seat at the 1901 Chicago Automobile Show, you probably would have stepped into an open wooden buggy steered by a tiller, not a wheel. The gas tank would be around 5 gallons, the wheels about 3 inches thick and the engine a single cylinder. These "horseless carriages" were the technological wonders that inspired some and scared others. Trading a trusted horse for one of those newfangled motor cars was not an upgrade many people were ready to make.

A few model lines have stood out for so long they've achieved legendary status in the world of motorcycling. Almost any enthusiast can fairly accurately describe such bikes as the Honda Goldwing, Suzuki GSX-R or Harley-Davidson Softtail. And then there's the BMW GS. Among certain circles of globe-trotting bikers, no other motorcycle matters. Yet among riders outside this base, the big Bimmer is more likely to elicit a look that says, "What is that thing?" And so it is that motorcyclists are likely to miss what may be the most significant leap forward for a model this year--the R1200GS.

What to do for an encore? A year ago, Chrysler Group unveiled a 500-horsepower concept motorcycle called Tomahawk at the Detroit Auto Show. This year, Chrysler followed up with an 850-horsepower "supercar." The car, if produced, would rival such exotics as Lamborghini, Ferrari and Porsche, said Wolfgang Bernhard, Chrysler Group's chief operating officer. In a marketplace where 45 brands slug it out, car companies roll out exotic cars to compete for attention--and get on the consideration list of some buyers.

Car owners may soon gain more confidence in the horsepower that automakers list for their vehicles. A group of engineers is developing a new standard to verify automakers' claims for the power their engines develop. In the recent past, automakers from Jaguar to Hyundai have admitted they advertised unrealistically high output numbers for their cars. "Horsepower numbers are absolutely important to our readers," said Frank Markus, technical director of Car and Driver magazine.

By Transportation in brief is compiled from the notebooks of Jim Mateja and Rick Popely, and from Tribune news services | September 7, 2003

- Cadillac is considering building a midsize car in Europe to compete against its German rivals in their backyard. The model would be smaller than a CTS sedan, making it about the size of a BMW 3-Series or Mercedes-Benz C-Class. Europe is the world's largest market for luxury brand vehicles, but another factor for building in Europe is to avoid the 10 percent duty on vehicles imported from the U.S., says John Howell, Cadillac's director of global brand development. Cadillac also could take advantage of Europe's trade agreements to export to other countries, including back to the U.S., he says.

The rough-edged stereotype of bikers took a hit Sunday when the Highland House restaurant closed in Highland Park, prompting hugs and tears from its brunch-loving motorcycle crowd. For 25 years the restaurant dished out breakfast every Sunday to hundreds of hungry bikers, who showed up with great appetites and even greater horsepower. "To me, it's almost the end of an era," said Dave Render, 50, a carpenter from Mt. Prospect, who stopped by on his Harley-Davidson Sunday as he has for the last 20 years.

By Edited by Cara DiPasquale (cdipasquale@tribune.com) | April 28, 2003

Don Miller won't choose a new sport-utility vehicle based on fuel economy. The war in Iraq and higher gasoline prices didn't change his mind about that. "I want the comfort; I need that size," said Miller, a retired telecommunications engineer in Baltimore who has owned four of General Motors Corp.'s Chevrolet Suburbans and is considering another of its SUVs. People who hesitated to buy more powerful vehicles are back in the market, with fuel-economy concerns easing in the past few weeks as the war turned in the favor of the U.S. and the U.K., said Art Spinella, president of CNW/Marketing Research.

By Car notes are compiled from the notebooks of Jim Mateja and Rick Popely, and from Tribune news services | March 13, 2003

Autos - Acura has priced its 2004 3.5 RL luxury sedan that went on sale last week at $45,600. A new navigation system with voice recognition and XM satellite radio are standard. - Base prices for the 2004 Nissan Maxima are $26,950 for the 3.5 SE (6-speed manual or 5-speed automatic) and $28,900 for the 3.5 SL (4-speed automatic). The prices do not include the $540 destination charge. The Maxima has been redesigned for 2004 and production has moved to Smyrna, Tenn., from Japan.